Nick Saban breaks down the SEC West... and other stuff!

When Nick Saban visited Memphis on Tuesday night, he touched on a few random topics while talking to myself and a couple other reporters. There was all this stuff, and some of that turned into this story.

But Saban was also asked a more wide-reaching question. How is the Southeastern Conference West shaping up?

OK, wait. Before he answers that, I got two quick links for you:
-- Sports Illustrated put out its preseason poll, and Alabama is 10th.
-- Defensive tackle signee Quinton Dial is headed to juco next year, instead of Alabama.

Now, back to Saban talking about the division his team won last year. Of course, the disclaimer came first: "I'm not sure what everybody else is doing," Saban said. Then he got into what he thinks.

"I know a lot of good teams have a lot of good players coming back," Saban said. "I know Ole Miss has a lot of players coming back, LSU's got a lot of players coming back, Arkansas's going to be a lot better, they have a new quarterback, they have a lot of players coming back. Auburn's always good. In fact, I just watched their spring game today. They look like they've got a pretty good football team."

How about Saban watching Auburn's spring game yesterday? Gotta love that. Only about seven months until the Iron Bowl.

Anyway, he's not finished yet.

"So just about everybody in the West," Saban said, "is going to be very competitive. You know, Mississippi State is going to be good. They got a new coach, a new offense, so it's going to be very competitive. In this league, you got to be ready to play every week."